Blogging for and about Youth Work and Young People

Posts tagged ‘dead ends’

The other interesting item I picked up on recently was about the Disarming Britainseries on Channel 4. Mike Amos Sipmson has blogged about the tv programmes hereand comments on “how much responsibility the popular media should take for glamourising gangs and street violence. How much of the fear that apparently drives some young people to carry weapons is actually rooted in the image of young people painted by the media, and how much do programmes like these improve matters or do they actually make them worse?”

The reason however that Disarming Britain popped up in my inbox was through a social issues games list that highlighted the game, Dead Endsthat had been developed to run alongside the programmes. Reid Bryant Kimball writes about it in his blog hereand offers some interesting ways in which the game could be developed, although I agree with the comment that Aaron Hung makes that it possibly should be more about the reasons why young people join violent gangs rather than why young people die in gang violence.

What I find really fascinating though is all the thought that has gone into trying to have a dialogue and involve everyone in the conversation. There is space to upload video, talk on facebook and bebo, blog comments etc. It is quite an integrated site (from my amateurs perspective!) for using the technology available although I am left wondering how Channel 4 are intending (or not) to take forward the issues raised. What will they do with the information and how / can this have an impact in a wider sense on developing support and understanding of knive crime? However what a great resource for youth workers looking for more facts, information and ways in which to raise and discuss the issues with young people.